In medical facilities, it is necessary to maintain supplies of pharmaceuticals and controlled medical equipment in storage locations where they are quickly and conveniently accessible to medical staff, while also maintaining accurate inventory control and barring access of controlled substances to unauthorized personnel. The contents of cabinets dispensing such pharmaceuticals and medical equipment are varied depending upon the medical procedures practiced in the medical facility where the cabinet is located. The dispensing cabinets may be returned to a central pharmacy or other location for restocking, or may be restocked on-site by medical or pharmacy staff.
It is important to provide adequate supplies of all the required pharmaceutical and medical supplies and prevent the occurrence of "stock-outs" that can arise if the inventories at the storage locations are not carefully monitored. But, to ensure that sufficient supplies are maintained at the storage locations, overstocking can occur which, in turn, increases the cost of the medical facility inventory systems by requiring more items to be maintained in inventory than are actually used. Overstocking of inventory can also result in waste through spoilage of unused supplies. Excessive restocking is also demanding on the hospital staff who must devote more of their time to monitor the storage locations to ensure that sufficient supplies are available.
One method used to provide pharmaceuticals and medical supplies to the areas of the medical facility where they are used includes dispensing carts or cabinets having computer processors for recording removal of items from the dispensing cabinets. These cabinets commonly include locked drawers having locked pharmaceutical receptacles, and include computer processors. The computer processors commonly provide for limited access by selected medical personnel to such cabinets and receptacles, for restricted access to specific drawers or locations of the cabinet in response to entry of information into the computer processor and for recording inventory information for use by medical staff in ensuring the continuity of the inventory in the cabinets.
In the case of controlled medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, the dispensing cabinets may be designed to provide single unit or single dose dispensing such that removal of each unit is recorded and access to the pharmaceuticals or other medical supplies is available only to authorized and identified persons.